une promenade nocturne
by Grey Eminence
Summary: At night not everyone at Hogwarts is sleeping.


_Disclaimer: I don´t own anything. Obvoiusly. All related characters and settings belong to JKR._

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**une promenade nocturne**

Night – the time of mystery, wonders and come-alive-fairytales.

The great roofs and mighty towers of Hogwarts, school and home for the young wizards and witches of Great Britain, were dowsed in a pale yet bright white light by the form of the full moon. There was no sound there, the corridors deserted as were the wide and large schoolgrounds. High on top of one of the many ancient walls, which surrounded the great castle protectively, a pair of felines were seated beside each other, their silhouettes drawn against the dark by the moonlight.

The first was a large silery white one with black areas around its grey eyes and strong paws. Swinging its tail from side to side silently its full attention was directed towards its partner. Said partner was a rich red tabby cat with long whiskers, which was just as fond of its companion. Both purred with great contentment while cuddling their heads together and every once in a while the red one would lick the cheek of the white one in great affection, which that answered to with a quick lick over the reds ear. Those two were living their own small world right now, where nothing else existed but themselves. The pair had been sitting there most of the night without a care in the world, mesmerized by the perfect round moon.

Suddenly a loud splash startled both animals, dragged them out of their dreamlike state. Two large tentacles soared out of the dark water of Hogwarts lake time and time again, seemingly fishing for bats. Now that was intriguing, who would´ve guessed that giant cephalopods like to feed on tiny, flying mammals? Then again, what normal squid of that size lives in a lake? The two animals looked at each other, smiling. But cats don´t smile, do they? Why yes, those two do. Moments later the white one rose from its perch, pointing with its head towards the castle, indicating that it was time to go. The red one turned its eyes toward the moon a last time and finally rose to its feet as well. The two of them began their track back into the castle, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, climbing up and down many columns until they reached a certain window leading them inside the building. As always loud hooting erupted between them the instant they entered the room and the more panicked birds started flapping their wings in order to reach a spot more distant from the ground than the one they were occupying before. Birds and cats aren´t very close friends, that´s a natural law so they hurried to get out of the owlery and onto the staircase leading down the tower into the castle. They went down several corridors and some more staircases, staying very close to each other the whole time, until they reached the great dining hall. Suprisingly the doors were open and the white one was overwhelmed by its curiosity as to why so it jumped ahead und slowly peeked around the corner of the large wooden doors. The hall were emtpy and dead silent as the rest of the building the animal discovered much to its disappointment. The red one joined the white by the door and peeked into the hall itself. It looked back at the white as to say:"What, you never saw a bunch of dinig tables before?" Annoyed, the white rolled its eyes and entered the hall, slowly sauntering down between the middle tables until it reached the big one at the end, which stood separated from the other four on a platform in front of big, ornate windows. It jumped up to the biggest stool in the center behind the table top and sat down with a smug expression. This time the red one, which had followed the white down the hall, rolled its eyes and slightly shook its head while the white one enjoyed itself. With a jerk of its head the red signaled its inpatience and desire to continue on their way.

Within the shadows behind the chairs of the staff table a dark figure emerged from nothingness and and slowly closed the distance between itself and the seatings unnoticed by the two pets. It reached its hand around the headmasters chair slowly and watched the white feline licking its paw. Suddenly the cat became aware of the third person in its vicinity and jumped up high, hissing, baring its sharp teeth. It came down in front of the red, which was caught off guard as well and continued hissing taking a defence position in front of its partner, which cowered down while its eyes never left the dark unknown figure. The stranger, still hidden within the shadows, stepped closer slowly raising its hands in order to indicate that it meant them no harm. The moonlight, which fell through the side windows, illuminated the figure, morphing it into the form of the old and wise headmistress. Both animals calmed down immediately. McGonogall crouched down and held out her hand for the two felines to get acquainted with her, take in her scent. „Well, and who may you be? I´ve certainly never seen the two of you before." She examined the felines some more. „Maybe brought here by some first years, hm?" The red neared the headmistress, who stroked its fur in a gentle manner. The red licked her hand in return while the white one remained seated some distance away, watching the scene in front of it unfold. It noticed the reason the headmistress was out here instead of lying in her bed snoring away the plight of the schoolday. A plate with some fruit, a few scones and a glass of water was resting on the table obviously meant for some kind of midnight snack. It was way past midnight though but the sight of food triggered something within the whites mind. It rose and turned to leave the great hall and the red one followed it swiftly after throwing a goodbye look at McGonagall. The geriatric witch watched the two stride away with a knowing smile. She couldn´t be fooled by them she thought while leaving the hall herself.

Outside the cats went down a fly of stairs and a short corridor until they reached a small air duct. The red one looked at the white inquiringly. The white simply entered the small tunnel and after a moment or two the red followed in. It took them a while in which the red kept close to the white until they reached their destination. Silently they jumped out of their secret passageway one at a time. They had entered the kitchens, which were almost empty except for a few lonly elves, who wouldn´t go to bed for reasons unknown. One of them noticed the two animals and served them as was stipulated by elve nature. It wasn´t their first visit down here and as always the pair received a yorkshire pudding and began digging into it without a moment of hestitation as was their custom. While eating with much gusto they observed the thin, pointy eared creatures carrying out various chores from washing dishes to baking bread. „Those servants never seemed to get tired of it." the red one thougt with a sad expression upon its face, which didn´t go by unnoticed by the white. It rolled its eyes like so often that night and received a playful punch into the side of its head by the red one for making fun of it. A short while later they finished their dish and left not without thanking the elve by meowing appreciatory. The pair left the same way they came.

The great clock of the entrance hall chimed four times. The two cats headed straight towards Gryffindor tower avoiding Mrs. Norris on the way by hiding behind a suit of armour. Despite they barely made an effort not to be detected by the ancient animal they passed it unnoticed. Like every time before. It was simply too old, almost a walking dead. When they reached the bottom of the constantly moving staircases both sat down for a moment enjoying their last moments of togetherness that night. The red one licked the white over its furry cheek a last time and entered the stairway. A final look after its companion and the white one was on its way itself, right in the opposite direction which led deep into the castle towards the dungeons. It was making its way down several stairs and fire lit corridors and by the time it was nearing its destination its animal appearance began to slowly change. Its legs grew longer until it was able to walk upright. The fur diminishing, a tail was no longer existent and its face took in human features. At last the rest of the the silvery white fur changed color to black and morphed into school robes, which were duty to wear within those ancient walls. The young man, tall with bright blonde hair stopped by a seemingly random chaste stonewall and spoke to it. An opening appeared, which the boy entered quietly.

Back with the red feline a similar transformation took place while it climped the stairs. The receding red fur changed into a bushy mop of rich red hair while the animal adopted a human female form. With springing steps the girl took the last few stairs and stopped in front of the painting of a fat lady wearing a pink silky dress. „Password?" the painted women asked and the teenager answered while stiffling a yawn. Obviously satisfied with the answer the portrait swung open revealing a hidden passage, which the girl entered while the painting was already moving again to cover it.

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_You spotted spelling and grammar errors? Keep them, I say._

_OK, That´s my first try at writing something myself. I´ve read a lot of Rose/Scorpius fics ´cause I´m a little romatic and after a while I discovered most of them are just very much the same. So, I had the idea for this tiny oneshot, no deep plot, just fun to read I hope and unlike anything I´ve encountered here until now. It´s just a raw version so far so maybe I´ll „upgrade" it at some point. Whatev´._


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